Lost and Found
by Ailis Ceana
Summary: When Peter is feeling alone and burdened, Edmund wants to help. He longs to help. But can he overcome this wall to comfort his brother?


_**A/N: This is one of the few one-shots I've been working on these past few months. This one is FINALLY done. I tried to veer a bit away from the comical one-shots and write something more along the lines of...brotherly comfort? Anyway, here's my attempt. Hope you like it! :) **_

_**Disclaimer: If I owned Narnia, Edmund, or Peter...I think the whole world would hear about it. But since I don't...well... **_

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The recently crowned King Edmund wandered the halls of his new home for the fiftieth time that week. He was lost-again. No one could blame him. Within the past week, he had been sent away from his "regular-sized home", as he called it, to a much bigger mansion in the country, and then to a very large castle with rooms in nearly every corridor. It was perfectly logical that he would be lost.

"Oh, blast," he muttered under his breath as he tried to retrace his steps to his room. Unfortunately, he had made a wrong turn somewhere in his backtracking and found himself in another part of the castle. He let out a frustrated sigh before flopping on a nearby bench in an un-kingly manner. He gathered his thoughts and formulated his next plan of action before standing. It was in that moment he thought he heard a familiar shouting.

"Must be my imagination," he decided when the noise had ceased. He decided on the contrary when he heard a loud clatter and an exasperated shout from the room nearby.

He knocked on the door shyly. "Hello?" he called. Edmund put his ear to the door. No sound proceeded.

"Is there anyone there?" he inquired again. He didn't hear anything. He shrugged and turned to leave when another series of clangings proceeded from the door. He decided not to knock this time and simply opened the door.

His jaw dropped when he viewed the cause of the clamor. "Peter!"

Indeed, there was his brother—surrounded with pieces of armour strewn across the room. Peter himself was under a breastplate and shield.

"Help me, will you?" Peter sighed.

Edmund froze for a moment, still shocked at the sight, before rushing to untangle his brother from the mess.

"What did you do?" he asked when Peter was freed from the heavy armour.

"I may or may not have knocked down a few coats of armour."

"On purpose?"

"No! Well, not all of them. Just one! Then the others came toppling down, of course."

Edmund crossed his arms. "What—"

"Edmund, please," Peter sighed. "I don't need to be pestered with questions right now. Thank you very much!"

Edmund's expression softened as he observed Peter's troubled eyes. He shut the door, cleared an area on the floor, and sat down. "What's wrong?"

He received no answer. He bit his lip. "Peter, you can tell me," he said.

Peter met his eyes briefly and then shook his head. Edmund bit his lip again, this time harder. The thought of Peter never being able to trust him again pierced his conscious all week. His heart sunk as the evidence of his nightmare becoming reality played before his eyes. Even though, after they had been crowned, Edmund had apologized to each of his siblings individually for his treachery, there still seemed to be a wall between him and Peter—one that made Edmund feel lost. He didn't know how to navigate over it or how to break it down; it was just this thick tension.

"Peter," he began again, trying his utmost to keep his voice steady. "You may not want to tell me—and I understand if you don't—but I think you should talk to someone. Maybe one of the girls or Oreius can—"

Peter's head snapped up. "Oh, Edmund!" he cried. "Oh, Edmund, I'm so sorry! I never in a million years meant I didn't want to tell you. By Jove, I wish I _could_ tell you. I wish I could tell everybody, really. It's just—It's just that I _can't_ tell you. Understand?"

Edmund laughed in spite of himself, more from relief than anything else. "No, I don't understand."

"That's just it," Peter said. "You don't understand. You couldn't. I—"

"You what?"

Peter turned his face away from Edmund. The long silence between them confirmed that he wasn't planning to speak.

"Peter, look at me," Edmund said in a commanding voice—one, as he noted, sounded much like Peter's.

His brother obliged by turning his head, but his eyes remained fixed on his hands.

Edmund placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Look at me," he demanded once again.

"Edmund, I _can't_ do this!" Peter burst suddenly. Edmund pulled himself for a moment as he saw tears rolling down Peter's cheeks.

Peter was crying. His strong, big brother was _crying_. He didn't know how to react. He didn't know whether to comfort him, leave him, or whether cry himself. It was that wall that always rendered him helpless when it came to Peter.

"I just can't take this burden," Peter continued as Edmund just sat there, dumbfounded. "I thought taking care of you three was hard enough. Now I have a whole country on my shoulders! I know nothing about wars or politics. How am I even to begin thinking of keeping peace with four countries when most of the time, I can't keep peace with three siblings!"

His soft tears turned into hiccupping sobs. "I just feel so _lost_, Ed!"

Edmund was silent. He hated this inability to comfort his brother. This was new to him. His life was new to him since his change—but he had his sisters and his brother to get him through. Their kindness and unwavering love towards him saved him from dwelling in his despair and wretched guilt. Perhaps that was it.

"Peter," Edmund managed to croak. He cleared his voice and began a little stronger. "Peter, you need to stop. You're not incapable, and you're certainly not alone."

The older king said nothing, but his sobbing ceased.

Edmund proceeded. "When I was at my worst—when I betrayed my family, Aslan, and Narnia, you were still there, loving me—simply because you were my brother. This past week it was your love-and Su's and Lu's—that got me through. Aslan chose all four of us for a purpose here in Narnia. He knew we would protect her—fight for her _together_. If he didn't think you capable, he wouldn't have crowned you, Pete. And, goodness! If he crowned poor, wretched, undeserving me, you should be ruling over Narnia and England combined!"

He realized the tears streaming from his own eyes as he spoke. "Peter, you don't have to do this alone. You may feel lost now, but—" He stopped abruptly as he remembered something Aslan had told him after his coronation. Something inside didn't want to share it with Peter, but as he looked into his brothers' pained eyes, he knew it needed to be said.

"Someone once told me," he went on. "that whether you lose yourself in the worries of life, the depths of despair, or the blackness of your own heart, Aslan will always find you again. You just have to trust that He can get you out."

Peter looked up. As their eyes met, Edmund dropped his gaze. He felt warmth in his face as he felt Peter smiling at him.

"How did my little brother become so wise?"

Edmund returned a shy smile to his brother. He gathered the courage to look Peter in the eyes for the first time since his redemption. Suddenly, the wall, which had taken years to build up, was broken down in a moment. He didn't feel lost anymore.

"Oh, Ed!" Peter said yanking him into an embrace. "I love you, and don't you ever forget that."

"Love you too, Pete," Edmund whispered. He knew, those four simple words mended the aching in Peter's heart.

"I feel as if I could take on the world now!" Peter exclaimed as they pulled apart.

"How about taking on this mess first?" He gestured to the armour surrounding them.

"As long as you're with me, Ed."

Edmund smiled. "Always."

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_**A/N: Hopefully, that was sweet and fluffy enough for your liking. Please let me know if it was or if it wasn't. :) Seriously, every review makes my day! **_

_**I was inspired by Psalm 139, though the story might not follow that line directly. **_

_**Have a good day, and thanks for reading!**_


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